The Workshop Rotation Ideas & Lesson Exchange

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Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.

Supply List:

Blue towels and red streamers

Bread bowl, plastic or cardboard frogs

Paper shreds or confetti

Black paper scraps, fly swatter, tray

Large basket, stuffed animals

Sticky paper circles

Ping pong balls and poster board

Clothes pins painted green, fake tree or bush

Table cloth and table

White board and red marker

Carpet square or table and chairs for eating

Matzo and grape juice

Cups and napkins

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your nametag.

Explain the purpose of this workshop. Children will act out the plagues and celebrate Passover.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Scripture/Bible Story:

Review the history of Moses briefly. The Israelites have been slaves in Egypt and wish to leave, but the king of Egypt won’t release them. God has told Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and has promised to help him. Moses and his brother Aaron speak to the king requesting that the slaves be released from slavery, but the king refuses. Aaron performs the miracle of turning the Nile to blood; still the king is not convinced. Through 9 plagues the king’s heart is hardened and he refuses to let the Israelite people go.

The plagues are blood, frogs, gnats, flies, dead animals, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. Finally Moses warns the king that the Lord will pass through the land and every first born Egyptian will die. Still the king refuses to release the Israelites.

Have the children use their Bibles to locate the scripture for this lesson (Exodus 12:21-42). Make sure that all children are able to locate Exodus. Assist the kids having trouble.

Once all children have located the passage, read it together as a group. They may take turns reading or you can read it to them.

Ask if there are any questions. You may need to explain the terms, plague, locust and boil. If this is the first week of rotation you may want to show where Egypt and the Nile are on a map or globe.

Application:

Set up plague “stations” and a Passover table before the lesson starts if possible.

Ask for volunteers to play the parts of Pharaoh and God (you may choose to be God to help direct the action if the class is young). The rest of the class will be Israelites/Moses.

The Plagues and the Passover:Go as a group to each plague station. The Israelites (the whole class except those being Pharaoh or God) say, "Will you let our people go?" Each time the king replies “No!”

Blood plague: blue towels lined up to represent the Nile.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then Moses will touch his stick to the water and the Nile will turn to blood.Children throw a red streamer into the Nile to represent blood.

Frog plagues: Have a bag of small plastic frogs or cardboard pictures of frogs and a pillow and bowl.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then there will be a plague of frogs. Frogs will be everywhere, in your food bowls and in your beds.(Children each try to toss a frog into the “kings” bowl or pillow)

Lice plague: Lice can be small paper shreds, rice or confetti.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then there will be a plague of lice. Sprinkle a few pieces of confetti into each child’s hair.

Fly plague: flies are small pieces of black paper on a tray.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then there will be flies buzzing everywhere.Children each take a turn swatting flies.

Dead animals plague: have some stuffed animals or bean bag animals and a basket.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then animals will die throughout the land.Children toss “dead animals” into basket.

Boils plague: Have stick on circles for “boils”

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then the people in this country will develop a skin disease and have boils on their skin.Children stick “boils” to their arms.

Hail plague: Have ping pong balls and throw them at a poster board picture of crops (wheat or corn, etc.)

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then great hailstones will destroy the crops in the fields.Each child throws a “hail stone” at the crops

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then great swarms of locusts will destroy what is left including the trees.Each child clips a “locust” to a tree.

Darkness plague: Table covered with dark cloth.

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Then there will be darkness both night and day.Children crawl under dark table.

Death of first-born children:

Israelites: Will you let our people go?King: No!God: Moses, tell your people to mark a red cross on their doors tonight. All firstborn sons in Egypt will die, but I will protect the houses with the red crosses, the illness will pass over these houses.Children each draw a red cross on the white board or poster.

God: The next day Moses and his people were safe but there were many Egyptians dead.

King: Moses, you and your people must leave this country. Take your sheep and go away, but ask your God to be kind to me.God: Moses, you and your people will celebrate Passover to give thanks that your first born children were spared from illness and to give thanks for your freedom from slavery.

At this time the workshop leader directs the children to the Passover area, either a table or carpet squares. Leader shows a basket of Matzo crackers with the explanation that bread without yeast (flat bread) was eaten at Passover because the Israelites had to leave Egypt quickly without time to let bread rise properly. A lamb or other animal was killed and its blood used to mark the Israelites doors so that death would pass over that house. The lamb also represents Jesus who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Israelites sacrificed lambs to save their first-born children. God sacrifice Jesus (who is called the Lamb of God) to save us from sin.

The leader says a blessing over the food. The class shares the matzo and grape juice.

Reflection Time:

Sharing and Discussion

God helped the Israelites suffering as slaves. How does God help us when we suffer? God gives us comfort when we pray, parents to help us feel better, doctos and nurses to heal us when we are sick, friends to cheer us up when we are sad, helpers like rescue workers, police officers, and fire fighters when there is a disaster, teachers and tutors when we are struggling in school, etc.

How can we help others who are suffering? We can help with kind words, hugs, prayers, or larger things such as donating food, time and money to those who need it.

Journal Time:

Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and pencils/markers.Prompts for journal writing: What ways do we remember God and his promises to us? By worshipping, singing, praying, learning about God and by our loving behavior every day (being kind to and helping one another.)

Closing:

Prayer: (suggestion) Ask for prayer requests and include them in your prayer. Thank you, God, for helping people who suffer and for keeping your promise to us by sending your son Jesus, the Lamb of God. Amen.

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask the children to help tidy up. Place plague stations material in a box to be used for next week.

References:

Egypt to the Promised Land: The Plagues in Egypt, from Creative Bible Learning Series.

These lessons are copyrighted by the Kirk of Kildaire and may be used for nonprofit purposes only.

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

See the complete set of Faith Quest lessons . This site also has the Workshop Leaders Bible Study Guide - a historical, theological, and contextual introduction to the “Moses, Plagues and Passover” rotation of the Kirk of Kildaire’s Faith Quest workshop rotation program. It is intended to provide workshop leaders with:· A historical context for understanding the Bible story.· A Biblical context for reading and teaching the story.· The theological basis for the concepts to be taught to the children.

Children will create fabric banners using stamps to depict the plagues.

Scripture Reference:

Exodus 6-12, with emphasis on Exodus 12:21-42.

The scripture passage is Exodus 6:26-30, 7:1-5, 17-21, 8 - 12:1-32. The Lord commanded Aaron and Moses to lead every family and tribe of Israel out of Egypt, and so they ordered the king of Egypt (called Pharaoh) to set the people of Israel free. These people were helpless slaves in Egypt and they were suffering. The Lord said to Moses “Tell Aaron everything I say to you, and he will order the king to let my people leave the country. But...the king won’t listen to you. He won’t listen even when I do many terrible things to him and his nation. Then I will bring a final punishment on Egypt and the king will let Israel’s families and tribes (God’s people) go. When this happens, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”

Start the “lesson time” with prayer. Ask for volunteers, but plan on praying yourself. A short prayer thanking God for being a part of our lives would be appropriate. Ask God to help us to be aware of his presence so that we may do good things as Jesus has taught us.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Bible Story:

Spend a short amount of time summarizing the story of the plagues and Passover. Have the children use their Bibles to locate the story. Review the names of the plagues that the Egyptian suffered. The plagues were turning the Nile River to blood, frogs, gnats, flies that carried disease, cattle dying, boils or sores on the peoples’ skin, hail that smashed the crops, locusts that ate the crops, darkness that remained for three days, and finally the death of all first-born males. These terrible things only happened to the Egyptians, not to God’s people. When God brought death to the Egyptians, God passed over the Israelite’s homes because they had obeyed his instructions to Moses to mark the top and sides of their doorways with blood from the lamb they had eaten for dinner. Explain that this is how God saved God’s people with a mighty hand.

Take a minute to talk to the children about the creation they are going to be doing in this workshop. Tell them that they can choose to make a banner showing the symbols for all or only some of the plagues. “Plague” might be a new word for some children. Explain that it is a terrible trouble, in this case 10 of them.

Application:

Create! It would be a good idea to have children put on smocks. Pass out materials. Every child will receive a piece of paper or fabric.

Show the children samples of the finished product. Tell them that they will be making their own design with symbols of the plagues that God made the Egyptians suffer in order to make the king let God’s people go free from slavery.

Tell the children that they will be sharing several stamps representing the 10 plagues that God sent.

Set up 4 paint stations - one for each color. Place the color-coded stamps and Styrofoam dishes with liquid acrylic paint in them on the tables. Designate two or more brushes to each dish of a color. Tell the children that all stamps of a particular design will be printed in the same color.

Show them that the paint should only coat the surface. Avoid getting paint in the spaces or the image will be lost.

Now the children should move from color station to color station using the brushes to spread the designated paint color over a stamp surface and press the stamp straight down onto their paper or fabric without twisting. The process can be repeated with the same or different stamps until the desired effect is achieved.

The cow stamp should be printed with feet up.

When pictures or banners near completion use the brushes to put each child’s initials on their work.

Clean up! Involve all kids in this so that you will have time to share together in the closing. Brushes can either be washed or disposed of. Damp wipe all stamps and set them out to dry. These will have to last five weeks.

Reflection Time:

Shepherds will pass out the journals and pencils/markers. The children should spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning’s lesson: We remember what God has done in the past and we celebrate what God is doing today.

The children could draw some of the plagues onto their Journal Sheet.

Closing:

The closing is to be a worship experience for you and the children. Encourage the children to share ideas about how God helps people who suffer and that “God saved God’s people with a mighty hand.”

Say the Key Verse together (see above). You may want to have this verse printed on a banner and hung in the room, write it on the white board in the room, or have it on slips of paper that each child can take home with them.

Pray! Ask the kids if they have any prayer requests. Thank God for being with us.

A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church

Cary, NC

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.

Preview the video and have it cued to the correct starting.

Practice operating the popcorn machine.

Supply List:

Journal sheets

Video - edited. Begin the video just before the Burning Bush scene. You will need to edit out about 10 more minutes from that point to the end.

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name-tag.

The purpose of this workshop is to learn the background events of Moses and the Passover.

Dig- Main Content and Reflection:

Scripture/Bible Story:Today we are going to learn about the rescue of the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. The video begins with Moses going to the burning bush where God tells Moses what he is to do. God sends Moses to Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelite people go. God gives Moses certain power and sends plagues to demonstrate to everyone God’s mighty power. The final plague came with the Angel of Death who “passed over” Israelite homes that were marked with the blood of a lamb. Finally, Pharaoh agrees to let the Israelite people go. Jewish people today celebrate Passover to remember God’s promise to rescue the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. God promised to deliver the Jewish people from slavery and God used Moses to do it.

Application:

Show the movie. This video is approximately 40 minutes long. The segment begins at the point in the story where Moses sees the burning bush and runs to the end of the video. The video has been edited to keep within the time frame.

Distribute popcorn with help from Shepherds or volunteer children.

Discussion:

Why did God send Moses to rescue the Israelite people? (God saw the suffering of the Jewish people. God promised to deliver them out of slavery)

What did God tell the Israelite people to do to save their babies from the Angel of Death (They put blood on the doorposts and above the door. The Angel of Death “passed over” these homes)

Reflection Time:Ask the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets. God sees the suffering of people. God wants us to help those who suffer. What can you do to help others? Older Children: Print your first name down the page. Create an acrostic with your name. For each letter in your name, identify something you can do or say to help others. Younger children: draw a picture of yourself helping someone in your family.

Closing:

Prayer:God, you are so mighty and powerful. You see the suffering of the poor. Help us see the needs of others so that we can do your work just as Moses helped the Israelites. Help us see ways to be kind, to think of the needs of others, to say something kind, to do something good without being asked. (List some of the ideas) God you are always with us. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! Amen.

References:

The Prince of Egypt, Dreamworks Pictures. Dreamworks Home Entertainment.

A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church

Cary, NC

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

The children will use the puppets to learn about God keeping promises.

Scripture Reference:

Exodus chapters 6-12, with emphasis on Exodus 12:21-42.

Memory Verse:

Romans 8:39: Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (CEV).

Concepts:

God remembers and keeps God’s promises.

God helps people who suffer.

Lesson Objectives:

This workshop help children understand that just as God kept his promises to the Hebrew people of old, God keeps his promises to us today. The two promises of God that the children have focused on in this and the previous rotation are their memory verses: Matthew 28:20 “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world” and Romans 8:39 “Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This workshop will explore how God keeps these two promises to us today.

Highlight the scripts so there are two for each part. The extra copies can be posted behind the stage or used by the workshop leader or shepherd.

Prepare a closing prayer.

Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.

Bring a CD or taped music for background music while you are gathering, along with meditative music for reflection time.

Materials List:

Ten copies of the script.

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Tell the children that today they will use the puppets to learn about God keeping promises.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Bible Story:

Ask the children what they remember about the Hebrew people in Egypt at the time of Moses.

How were the Hebrew people treated?

What was their situation? They were slaves of the Egyptians, they were treated poorly, were required to do difficult, heavy work. They were not free to live their lives as they wished.

Ask the children if they know what God had promised to the Hebrew people many years before. Most children will not know this answer but tell them that God had promised to be with the Hebrew people as their God and that God would make them a great nation in a special land.

Ask whether the children think God was keeping this promise when the people were slaves in Egypt. It certainly does not appear so—the Hebrews were not a strong nation living in the land God had promised to them. Instead they were slaves in someone else’s land.

Ask the children what God did to help the situation change for the Hebrew people in Egypt. They should be able to talk about Moses being called from the last rotation. However in the first few weeks of this rotation, they may not know much more than that. Do not try to re-tell the rest of the Moses story here—the point for the children to know for this workshop is that God worked to keep the promises made to the Hebrew people—and that in time it finally came to pass.

End this part of the discussion with the question: “Has God made any promises to us?” Answers will vary—but the two promises to focus on are the memory verses from the last rotation and from this one: Matthew 28:20 “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world” and Romans 8:39 “Nothing in all creation can separate us from the God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These are indeed promises God has made to us.

Tell the children they will use the puppets to see how God is keeping these two promises to us today.

Application:Note: There are 4 short skits rather than one longer skit. Each skit has 2-4 characters.

Divide the class into four groups. Within each group, let the children decide who will be a puppeteer and who will read. NOTE: If the first graders are not able to read the scripts, the workshop leader could pre-record all the reading or the workshop leader and the shepherd could read all the parts while the children do the puppeteering.

Give each group enough scripts and puppets for each part in that skit.

Allow the groups 5 minutes or so to practice their script.

Have the first group come to the stage to act out their skit. Because some skits are short, they could be preformed twice, especially if it was hard for the audience to hear all the lines the first time.

At the end of each skit, ask the group to sit down and have a brief discussion about how God was keeping the two promises from the memory verses in the skit. Children should be able to see that God sends love, material help, and God’s presence in many ways—and that indeed, nothing can separate us from God.

Act the out the subsequent skits allowing time for a brief discussion at the end of each.

Wrap-up:Because of the discussions between each skit above, there probably is not much need for further discussion at this point. Just remind the children that the memory verses are indeed God’s promises to us today and that God keeps these promises just as he kept the promises to the Hebrew people long ago. God keeps these promises to us even when it might not seem like it. Certainly for a long time, it didn’t seem like God was remembering the Hebrew people, but in time, God did keep the promises—and God keeps the promises made to us as well.

Reflection Time:

Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and pencils/markers.

For the younger children (first and second graders) ask them to write the following title on their page. “God helps us.” Ask them to draw a picture of God helping someone. You may need to remind them, that just as in the skits, God uses other people to help, too.

For older children ask them to write about a time when God helped them. If this is difficult, ask them to think of something they prayed for and that happened or a time when they were sick or hurt and someone helped them. Their writing should have at least three sentences.

Closing:

Prayer: Close with a simple prayer thanking God for his promises to always be with us and for all the ways God cares for us.

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help clean up as they wait for their parents to arrive. Put pillows behind stage area. Put away boom box, workshop bin, etc

God's Promises Skits

SKIT 1

Workshop leader note: This first skit includes a verse from Amazing Grace and has words that may be unfamiliar to the children (secures, portion, endures). You could review this verse with the children before the skit-or after it. Perhaps you would like to have the words written on a large piece of paper to help them understand it better.

MRS PEARSON: “I’m so worried. I’m so worried. Everything is bad. What will I do? How can I manage? How can anything get better? What can I do? I’m so worried! I’m so worried!!”

“But wait. Listen. I hear something. The radio is on. Is that singing? What are the words? What are they saying?”

VOICE FROM RADIO SINGING: “The Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be. As long as life endures*”

MRS. SMITH: “I’ve heard those words before. That’s a church hymn. That’s about God. With all my troubles, I forgot about God. That hymn says God will be good to me. It says God will protect me. I want to remember that.”

“Everything is not so bad now. I’m not so worried. When I remember God, everything is much better.”

*Verse 4, Amazing Grace by John Newton.

SKIT 2

JOHN: Uncle Brian, Uncle Brian! It was so exciting to watch you on TV. Did you really fly in the space shuttle? Were you really in outer space? What was it like? Were you scared?”

UNCLE BRIAN: “Yea, it was great! I can’t believe I really got to do it. I have trained and trained to ride in the space shuttle for a long time. It was amazing!”

JOHN: “They told us at church that God is everywhere. But I don’t believe it. I don’t think that God lives in outer space. I think God is only at church. What do you think, Uncle Brian?”

UNCLE BRIAN: “You know, John, I always thought God was only at church, too. But when I was in space, God seemed even more real than when I was in the church building.”

“I could see the earth and the stars and the moon so clearly. I could really understand how big God’s creation is. I could see how beautiful God’s world is. God felt very close to me then. That has helped me feel closer to God all the time now.”

SKIT 3

CHARLES: “Martha, I lost my job today.”

MARTHA: “Oh, Charles, how can we manage? It’s almost Christmas. The kids won’t have anything. What will we do? What will we do?”

CHARLES: “You can think what you want, but I’m going to pray. God will listen. God is here.”

TWO WEEKS LATER:

CHARLES: “The social worker has been great help, Martha. I still don’t have a job, but we will have a Christmas! She told me to write a list of the things the kids need for Christmas. She said clothes, toys, books—and that you and I could put a couple things on the list, too.”

MARTHA: “Charles, I don’t get it. Social workers don’t care about our kids or about Christmas.”

CHARLES: “She’s going to give our names and our list to people at a church. They‘re going to buy the things for us!”

MARTHA: “I can’t believe it! This is wonderful! Charles you are so good.”

MRS. JARVIS: “It’s great to have all of you at Faith Quest today. I’m so glad to see you! Remember this rotation is about prayer so we will be asking for prayer concerns at the end of our time together.”

MRS. JARVIS PUPPET PRETENDS TO TEACH SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR A FEW MINUTES AND THEN SPEAKS AGAIN:

MRS. JARVIS: “Are there any prayer concerns or joys to share? God wants to know all our happy news and sad news.”

BELINDA: “My dog had five puppies yesterday!!”

JERAMY: “My grandpa is flying here to visit this week.”

TYLER: “My mom is really sick. She’s going to have surgery in two days. My dad still has to work and has to take care of her. I’m really worried about how I’ll get supper.”

A FEW DAYS LATER:

TYLER: “There’s somebody at the door. Dad’s home so I can answer it.”

MRS. JARVIS: “Tyler, I’m so glad you told us about your mother’s surgery. I’ve called a few of the other ladies from the church and we’ll be bringing supper for the next week while your mom is still resting. Here’s some spaghetti and salad for tonight.”

A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church

Cary, NC

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Copies of the bread recipe (one for each child) for the children to paste onto their journal page.

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your nametag. Make sure the children are wearing nametags.

The purpose of this workshop is to learn about the Passover and the Israelites' departure from Egypt.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Scripture/Bible Story:

Ask the children to find Exodus 12:1 in their Bibles.

Quickly summarize Exodus 6-12 (the plagues) for the children.

Read Exodus 12:21-42, the focus of this rotational unit.

Application:

After reading the scripture, reiterate that the Israelites were instructed by God to eat quickly so that they could leave Egypt as soon as possible. Emphasize that God is commanding the Israelites to remember the exodus, and God’s salvation, through a celebration of worship. God is very specific about how the Israelites are to worship Him during the Festival of Thin Bread (Ex. 12:17) and Passover (Ex. 12:43).

Tell the children that they are going to make thin, or unleavened, bread like the Israelites did that night, and will be able to eat it before Sunday School is over. Have each child wash their hands, and move the class into the kitchen.

Make the Bread. The bread recipe below makes enough bread for 8-10 children. For class sizes greater than 10, divide the class into teams and make two batches of bread. Assign each child a role in making the bread. The following roles may be used

Measuring and pouring the flour into the bowl.

Measuring and pouring the water into the bowl.

Measuring and pouring the salt into the bowl.

Measuring and pouring the butter into the bowl.

Measuring and pouring the oil into the bowl.

Flattening the bread

Perforating the bread with a fork

Children may be given the chance to knead the dough with their hands for a few seconds, if time allows before the flattening and perforation.Bake the bread. While the bread is baking, clean up the preparation area

Remove the bread, and cut it into a small piece per child. Ask the children if any of them know what yeast is, and why God would not want them to use it in their bread making? Explain that yeast makes the bread rise, and takes an extra 30 minutes or more, depending on the size of the loaf. Showing them a loaf of bread using yeast would help them understand the difference.

Before eating the bread, ask the children to bow in prayer. Lead them in a prayer that thanks God for keeping his promise to always be with us and for all the ways God cares for us.

Adaptions:

Older children:The older children will be able to participate in all aspects of making the bread.

Younger Children:Younger children may be limited to mixing and kneading the dough, with the workshop leader and shepherd performing the measurements.

Reflection Time:Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and glue. Have the children paste the recipe for the bread making onto the journal sheet.

Directions:1) Mix flour, salt, and butter (best if melted) in a bowl.2) Mix oil and water into the bowl until it leaves the side of the bowl, and forms workable dough. If the dough is too crumbly, add a small amount of water (1/2 tbsp) until pliable. If the dough is too sticky, add a small amount of flour.3) Put a small amount of flour on a bread board and knead the dough lightly.4) Flatten the dough until it’s thin, about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch thick. Pick it up, turn it over and roll out thin again.5) Perforate with a fork and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.6) Bake 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees until light brown.

A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church

Cary, NC

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Key Verse:“Now I have seen how the people of Israel are suffering because of the Egyptians, and I will keep my promise.” -- Exodus 6:5

Memory Verse:Romans 8:39: Nothing in all creation can separate us fromGod's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (CEV).

Concepts:

God helps people who suffer.

We remember what God has done in the past and we celebrate what God is doing today.

Lesson Objectives:

Older children will locate the story of the plagues and Passover in their Bibles. Younger children will learn that the story is in Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament.

The children will learn the basic events of the story.

The children will relate the story to the concepts above.

Teacher preparation in advance:

Read the scripture and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.

Learn the story thoroughly and plan for telling it.

Prepare a closing prayer.

Supply List:

Extra Bibles

Bible storybook or props for story telling (optional)

Dry-erase marker

Memento for journals (optional)

Skittles (optional)

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your nametag.

Open with a brief prayer (optional, as they have just prayed in Great Hall).

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Scripture/Bible Story:

Grades 1-2 will not use Bibles, but do open yours to show them the story is in Exodus, the second book of the Bible. For grades 3-5, make sure everybody has a Bible. Help the students to find Exodus. (Get the shepherds to go around the room and help with this.)

After they’ve found Exodus, help them find chapter 4, then verse 27, and tell them this is where the story of the plagues and the Passover begins. Some of the children will confuse chapters and verses. Show them that chapter numbers are the big ones, and also are at the top of every page.

Review the story, using the summary below as a guide. Unless this is the first Sunday of the rotation, let the children help you tell the story. This will give you an idea of how much they already know. Consider showing illustrations from a Bible storybook, or using some props such as a walking stick, stuffed frogs, plastic bugs, a handful of confetti to simulate ashes, etc.

Story SummaryRemember that you’ve already learned about Moses and the burning bush – when God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. After that, Moses, his wife, Zipporah, and their two sons set off for Egypt.

In Egypt, Moses and his brother Aaron met with the Israelite leaders. They told them everything God had said. And the Israelites believed, and bowed down and worshiped God. They knew that God has seen their suffering and was going to help them.

Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh and said, "The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, so they may hold a festival in the desert to honor me.'"

The Pharaoh said, "What do you mean by making the people neglect their work? Get back to work!" And then he called his slave drivers together and told them to push their workers even harder. And the Israelites complained bitterly to Moses and Aaron.

Moses called out to God, "Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did you send me? It has caused nothing but trouble and made things worse than ever for your people. The Pharaoh is now treating your people even more cruelly."

God answered, "You’ll see. I have seen how my people are suffering and I will keep my promise to them and free them from slavery. Now I will force the Pharaoh to let my people go. In fact, he will drive them out of his land. Now you and Aaron must return to him and say as I command."

Then came ten plagues, each one worse than the one before. And in each plague, the region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was spared.

First, Moses struck the surface of the Nile River with the walking stick, and the water turned into blood. All over the land water turned into blood — even in pots and pitchers. All the fish died. It stank.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.(With each succeeding plague, pause after “But Pharaoh said...” and let the children say “NO!” They should catch on to the cue pretty quickly.)

Then God sent frogs. They covered the land and filled people’s houses. They jumped on everyone and everything — they even stole bread that was baking in ovens!

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Then Moses struck his walking stick on the ground and God turned the dust into gnats. Nasty little bugs that covered all the people and all the animals. They flew in eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. They were maddening.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

God sent flies. A cloud of fat, black flies that buzzed around and crawled into everything.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

God sent a terrible disease, and all the animals of the Egyptians died — the cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Moses threw ashes into the air, and it settled on the Egyptian people and became boils, open sores all over the people's skin.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky, and God sent thunder and lightning and hail. All over Egypt the hail pounded people and plants and animals. It destroyed the flax and barley crops.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Moses raised his walking stick, and God sent an east wind that brought the locusts. Locusts that ate everything the hail did not destroy. They came in swarms and settled over the whole country. Not a green thing was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Moses lifted his hand toward the sky and there was heavy darkness throughout Egypt for three days. The Egyptians could not see each other and no one left his house.

But Pharaoh said “NO!” He would not let the people of Israel go.

Then God said to Moses, "I will send only one more punishment on the Pharaoh and his people. Then he will make you leave. Now tell the Israelites and to prepare as I direct you. Every family must choose a special sheep or a goat, and kill it and put some of the blood on the doorposts of their house. I will go through the land of Egypt and kill every first-born male, human and animal. But I will pass over the homes of the Israelites, if they are marked with blood on the doorposts as I have instructed."

Moses warned the Pharaoh that this was going to happen, but Pharaoh still said “NO!” So when the time came, at midnight, God killed all the first-born sons in Egypt, from the Pharaoh's son to the son of every prisoner in jail. There was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home without a dead son.

The Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron: "Get out! Leave my country. Go and worship your Lord, as you asked. Take your wives and people, your sheep, goats, and cattle, and leave."

The Israelites quickly packed their things and left. For food, the Israelites hastily made some bread dough and put it in pans, but they did not mix any yeast in the dough to make it rise. When they baked it the bread was very flat.

After they left Egypt, God commanded the Israelites to remember the Passover and celebrate it every year. Even today, during Passover time the Jews eat unleavened bread. They have a special Passover meal to remember how God saved their people from slavery.

Application:

Divide the class into several teams of three to five players (name them the Frogs, the Locusts, etc.). Have the shepherd keep score on the white board. Line the teams up and let them take turns spinning the game wheel, then answering questions. Let the first person in line spin for the team. The spinner can ask his team for help, but he is the only one who can answer.

If the spinner guesses correctly, award his team the points he spun for. If he answers wrong, no points. Make sure the class hears the correct answer. Either way, go on to the next team for the next question.

After spinning, the player goes to the end of his team’s line. One spin, one question per turn.

Keep going until every child has spun at least once. If the kids are taking too long to answer, give them a 30-second limit and get the shepherd to time the game using the timer in the supply bin.

See end of lesson plan for questions. Feel free to add some of your own. For the first couple of weeks, ask the questions in the order given to reinforce the sequence of events. In later weeks, if the children seem to know the story well, you might mix them up. If time is short, skip some of the questions regarding details of specific plagues. Grades 1-2: Use multiple-choice questions. Grades 3-5: Ask the same questions, but don’t offer choice of answers.

Reflection Time:Tell the children: The story of the plagues and the Passover is very long so we’ve left out some of the details. But there are some important parts that I want us to read now.Grades 1-2: Read these verses to the children and briefly discuss. Read directly from the Bible (CEV) to emphasize that’s where the story is.Grades 3-5: Have the children close their Bibles. Call out a verse; let the first to find it read it out loud (different child each time). Then briefly discuss the verse.

Exodus 6:5 -- “Now I have seen how the people of Israel are suffering because of the Egyptians, and I will keep my promise.”Even when it looked as if things were getting worse and worse for the Israelites, God knew they were suffering and promised to help them. And today, God still helps people who are suffering, even when it doesn’t look that way.

Exodus 10: 2 -- “I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about my miracles and about my harsh treatment of the Egyptians. Then all of you will know that I am the Lord.”Some terrible things happen to people in this story, but here God explains that there is a purpose behind it – so the Israelites will know God’s power and teach their children about God. Sometimes today terrible things happen that we might not understand, but we can trust that God cares about people who suffer and that we can care for people who suffer also.

Exodus 12:14 – “Remember this day and celebrate it each year as a festival in my honor.”And Exodus 12:17 – “Celebrate this Festival of Thin Bread as a way of remembering the day that I brought your families and tribes out of Egypt. And do this each year.”God commanded the Israelites to remember their rescue and celebrate it every year. We also remember great things God has done and celebrate them in our worship. Especially, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection every Easter.

Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and pencils/markers. You may wish to give the children a sticker or some memento to paste in their journal as a reminder of the story.

Have the children write at the top of the page: Remember and Celebrate (write it on the white board for the little ones). Ask them to write or draw a picture of something that God has done in the past that they remember and celebrate today. It might be something we all do in our church – such as remembering and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection at Easter. Or it might be something that God has done for them or their family or someone they know.

Closing: Prayer: Close with a prayer such as: “God, we remember that you kept your promise and helped the people of Israel when they were suffering. We know that you still help people today when they are suffering. Help us also to care for people who suffer. Help us remember and celebrate the good things you have done and are still doing today.”

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help collect Bibles, journals, etc.

Note: I find that the kids participate better if they get little rewards along the way. Skittles are highly motivating for some reason. If I were leading this workshop I’d give them a Skittle for bringing their Bible, for finding the Bible passage, for answering a question in the game (one to everybody on the team), for participating in discussion, a Skittle to everybody on the way out the door after cleanup, etc. I’d have several small jars of Skittles on hand and put the shepherds in charge of distribution. (Better check with shepherds and make sure nobody is diabetic!)

Who went with Moses to talk to the Israelite leaders and the Pharaoh?A. His brother JosephB. His brother AaronC. His wife, Zipporah

What was the name of the region of Egypt where the Israelites lived?A. The NileB. CanaanC. Goshen

When Moses and Aaron first met with the Israelite leaders and told them that God had sent them to lead their people out of slavery, what did the Israelite leaders do?A. They believed, and bowed down and worshiped God. (They knew that God has seen their suffering and was going to help them.)B. They said, “Don’t you dare talk to Pharaoh! It will only make things worse!”C. They said, “No way, Pharaoh is more powerful than our God.”

Moses and Aaron asked the Pharaoh to let the Israelites walk into the desert. What reason did they give for wanting to do this?A. They told Pharaoh they wanted to leave Egypt and never come back.B. They told Pharaoh the land of Goshen was full and they wanted to build themselves new houses in the desert.C. They told Pharaoh they wanted to hold a festival in the desert to honor God.

When Moses and Aaron asked the Pharaoh to let the Israelites walk into the desert, how did the pharaoh respond?A. He said, "That sounds reasonable enough. Have a good journey.”B. He told the slave drivers to push the workers harder than ever.C. He asked his magicians to send plagues upon the Israelites.

When the slave drivers started forcing the Israelites to work harder than ever, how did they respond?A. They blamed Moses and complained bitterly.B. They trusted that God would rescue them from slavery.C. They began to plot a revolution against the Egyptians.

When the Israelites complained to Moses, what did he do?A. He told them not to worry and to trust God.B. He reminded them of God’s promise to rescue them from slavery.C. He complained to God.

When Moses complained to God, how did God answer?A. God said, “I have seen how my people are suffering and I will keep my promise to them and free them from slavery.”B. God said, “I’ll do what I can, but that Pharaoh is a tough guy.”C. God said, “Tell my people to stop whining. A little hard work never hurt anybody.”

How many plagues were there?A. 10B. 12C. 15

What happened when Aaron struck the Nile River with the walking stick?A. The water turned into wine.B. The water began to boil.C. The water turned into blood.

Which animals stole bread out of the Egyptians’ ovens?A. FrogsB. LocustsC. Flies

When Aaron struck his walking stick on the ground, what did the dust turn into?A. FliesB. GnatsC. Locusts

What happened to the Egyptians’ animals?A. They died from a terrible disease.B. They were eaten by locusts.C. They were forced to work as hard as the Israelite slaves.

What happened when Moses threw ashes into the air?A. They cast a shadow that caused three days of darkness.B. They settled on the Nile and turned the water to blood.C. They settled on the Egyptian people and became sores on their skin.

What did the hailstorm do?A. It pounded people and plants and animals, and destroyed crops.B. It killed the Pharaoh’s oldest son.C. It killed all the frogs.

What did the locusts do?A. They drove away the animals.B. They cast a shadow that turned the sky black for three days.C. They ate all the plants and crops that the hail had not destroyed.

How long was Egypt covered with darkness?A. Three daysB. Three weeksC. Three months

What was the punishment that finally caused Pharaoh to let the Israelites go?A. The plague of darknessB. The plague of locustsC. The death of the first-born son in every family.

What were the Israelites told to do so their first-born sons would not be killed?A. To hide their children.B. To kill a special sheep or goat and put some of the blood on the doorposts of their house.C. To wear special clothes.

What food did the Israelites take when they left Egypt?A. Bread made without yeastB. Bread made without flourC. Bread made without salt

After they left Egypt, what did God command the Israelites to do every year?A. Remember the Passover and celebrate it with a special song.B. Remember the Passover and celebrate it with a special meal.C. Remember the Passover and celebrate it with a big party.

A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian ChurchCary, NC

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

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